The ‘Fall’ Gives New Rise to Vietnamese American Filmmaker
His name is Ham, a UCLA grad who made the first ever film about the Vietnam War from the perspective of the Vietnamese. Remember that name, he’ll be going places.
Three elements are missing from “Journey from the Fall,” a Vietnamese American film about the April 30, 1975, fall of Saigon, South Vietnam’s capital: village prostitutes, village traitors and Oliver Stone.
Absent also are the disillusioned American GIs. In fact, any American presence is gone by the time the film picks up on the tragic end to the Vietnam War and the country’s reunification under Communist rule. The film, made by UCLA film school graduate Ham Tran, is strictly derived from the plight of thousands of “boat people” who had to escape their homeland under the most harrowing circumstances. Think hard labor camps, weeklong confinement in the bowels of a boat and pirates a little more menacing than the Johnny Depp kind.
The premise is simple: make a film about the experience of escaping from Vietnam to America from the Vietnamese perspective.
“How long will we allow Hollywood to tell their versions about the Vietnam war where Vietnamese people are faceless, nameless background objects instead of three-dimensional living, breathing people whose lives are directly torn by war?” said Tran, 32.
Nine out of 10 Vietnamese Americans are either a boat person or knew someone who was one, he added. When Tran arrives at the Pacific Citizen building, he is all smiles and sunshine dressed casually in white to match his later model Acura. His levity is in stark contrast to the pet project he wrote and directed with funding help from Vietnamese American community members and entrepreneurs.
It’s one of the most expensive independent films about the war, according to the BBC, and it shows. The budget allowed for an on location shoot in Thailand where a camp complete with a guard tower and shanties were recreated so authentically “re-education camp” survivors who had roles in the film were brought to tears. When a land mind detonates onscreen, it explodes Hollywood-style with fire and flying debris. Many of the actors are major stars in Vietnam, but we may recognize a familiar face — Kieu Chinh of “The Joy Luck Club” and “Hamburger Hill” (another Vietnam War drama from the American perspective that cast the talented actress as “Mama San”).
It’s a movie that took 30 years to get right and it’s not pretty. Each scene is bathed in earth tones and darkness to evoke the sense of helplessness of losing your country. “Journey” follows the Nguyen family’s fight for survival after they are torn apart — patriarch Long (Long Nguyen of Oliver Stone’s “Heaven and Earth”) is thrown into camp because he
worked with the South Vietnamese government and the Americans, while his wife Mai (Diem Lien, a pop star) his mother (Chinh) and young son (Nguyen Thai Huynh) struggle to find a safe passage to America.
“Journey” is a mesmerizing film that wowed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but to date has no distribution deal. However the filmmaker said they are close to announcing a domestic distribution deal with a possible theatrical release next March.
Many other companies have expressed interest, but have also asked Tran to remake the film in English, with either Lucy Liu or Zhang Ziyi and to add an American character in order to sell the film.
Tran’s response: No, no and no.
Instead the filmmaker has opted to showcase the film in festivals, most notably the upcoming San Diego Asian Film Festival where Chinh will be honored with a lifetime achievement award.
“In our vision, ‘Journey from the Fall’ is to the Vietnamese community as ‘Schindler’s List’ is to the Jewish community,” said Tran. It’s a tribute, but also a clarion call to the many who don’t know about this part of history.
The story is universal for any community that has experienced dislocation and persecution. The Nguyen family’s new life in Orange County, Calif. is filled with hardship — there’s immigrant tension in school between the Asian Pacific Americans and the Hispanics and awkward transition between survival and consumerism.
“In America, anything missing can be bought at the mall,” said one character, in between scenes where prisoners eat insects to live and Chinh collects soda cans from one of Southern California’s many street trashcans.
“No American film has ever been made about these struggles and sacrifices, so the question is ‘Why not?’” said Tran.
Tran’s parents and aunt, who is a boat person, have also seen the movie and raved about the authenticity of the movie.
“The best reward that I can want from the film’s release is to open up a dialogue between my parents’ generation and youth who were never told by their parents about their incredible ordeal,” added Tran.
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